Lessons from Europe on the far right

I am an British MEP of Asian origin sitting in the same parliament as Nick Griffin. In most of the countries of the EU there are examples of how mainstream and popular the far-right message is, matured by proportional voting elections (Ministers warn of poll boost for BNP after Question Time, 24 October). So why did we not at least understand lessons learned by our neighbours?

In France, the march of Le Pen was massively aided by the TV talk and current affairs circuit, rather than forensic one-to-one interviews. Today the far-right is in power or influencing government policy there and across the EU. What a pity then, that the views of Johnson, Hain and Livingstone were often seen as part of the "old-fashioned" no-platform policy. A cursory glance at France and Italy would have shown the folly of treating the BNP the same as any other party. Free speech is easily provided by interviews which genuinely cross-examine, rather than prime-time theatre – a lesson also learned in countries such as Denmark and Germany. People sympathising with the "underdog" is a trajectory familiar in other EU countries. We may now be joining the majority of them in having a far-right problem.

• You argue the BNP received a surge of support after Nick Griffin's BBC appearance, pointing to a poll suggesting 22% of the electorate would "seriously consider" voting BNP. Data from the State of the Nation poll in 2005, which we reported on in The BNP: the Roots of Their Success, showed that even then, one in five English respondents "might vote" for the BNP, rising to 24% in London. Saturday's polling evidence, therefore, reflects an underlying pattern and worrying confirmation that the party has entered the mainstream – but not evidence of a new surge in support caused by Griffin's BBC appearance.

• Something is missing from the debate about the BNP (Letters, 24 October). Surely the only effective way of stopping its rise is to ban it? We cannot go on pretending such a step would damage our liberal democracy. Would proscribing these groups really give the extreme right wing more of a publicity coup than they have had in the past week? Instead of having to challenge fascists on the streets and in TV studios, which we must while their existence is legitimised by the state, I would rather enlist the help of our democracy's security forces to deal with what would inevitably be their ever-decreasing, illegal numbers. Until we take this decisive action, I fear the BBC episode will not be the last.